By: Vanessa Countryman
Stray or Feral cats have been notorious for being detrimental to songbird populations, carrying disease and rapid mating, but does the Trap-Neuter-Return Program actually help these problems?
Several animal rescue organizations offer a TNR program which can limit reproduction. This program legally allows people to set humane traps for cats, and if a cat gets into the trap, they are able to have it spayed or neutered.
“Feral cats are nuisance animals and they are not natural to our environment, they are not natural to our ecosystem, they are a predator that should not exist,” said Director of Fixin the Boro Sarah Roehm.
Other research shows that it may not just be feral cats that impact wildlife, North Carolina State University researcher Roland Kays, also looks into how house cats do the same. There was a study done, “The small home ranges and large local ecological impacts of pet cats”, consisting of monitoring 900 house cats.
This study showed that when they kill small birds and mammals, their impact is concentrated in a small area, having a bigger effect than wild predators do.
Spaying and neutering decreases or eliminates aggressive behaviors--fighting, biting, mating--that would spread disease.
During the TNR process, if a cat is taken to the clinic and it has an observable disease or injury that cannot be immediately treated or maintained, the cat is humanely euthanized to eliminate its suffering and to prevent spreading the disease, according to Deborah Kosina, Spay/Neuter Program and Community Cat Program Coordinator at the Humane Society of Statesboro & Bulloch County, Inc.
The study also revealed that cats can have four-to-10 times the impact of a wild predator because their impact is over a smaller area, whereas wildlife covers more area.
“I don't really expect to see significant change in the numbers for several years,” said Kosina, referring to the number of cats still being
TNRed. “It takes time to make a dent in something that has existed so long and for the culture to change.”
TNR cats also receive a rabies vaccine for further disease prevention. And, some research supports the idea that one rabies vaccine lasts for the duration of an animal's life, according to Kosina.
So, TNR is said to work, but house cats seem to be impacting the environmental factors just as much, according to researchers.
References
Kays, R., Dunn, R. R., Parsons, A. W., McDonald, B. W., Perkins, T., Powers, S. A., McDonald, J., Cole, H., Kikillus, H., Woods, L., Tindle, H., & Roetman, P. (2020). The small home ranges and large local ecological impacts of pet cats. Animal Conservation, 23(5), 516–523. https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12563